Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-05-13
A "TRIP TO HESPERTA.
Deserts fn BIOsssm-The New
Water werIks.

eattb tteThSs
II was the good fortune of a repre-
sentative of the HERALD to make trip
to the town of Hesperia In San Bernar-
dino county on Tuesday last in company
with the President of the Hesperia Land
and Water Company, Hon. r. nj. Wild
ney, Dir. P. j. Kline, prominent citi'
zen of Portsmouth, Ohio, and X. r.
Brown, of Pasadena. one of the proprie-
tors of the new settlement. The trip
was made by the new and elegant cars
of the California Southern Railway
through great grain fields
THAT stretch
In airy undulstions far away,
AS If the ocean, in his gentiest swell,
Stood still, with all his rounded pillows
And motionless forever er.-Motionless?-
No-They are all unclaimed ag-in. The
clouds
sweep over with their shadows. and, be.
meath,
The surface rolls and tuctuatcs to the eye;
Dark hollows seem to glide along and chase
The sunny ridges"
After the great fields of gsain, the
rich vineyards aud orchards that cover
the land from Los Angeles TO the upper
mesas above san Bernardino city the
train passed through the ever beautiful
tortuous, romantic Cajon Pass for
nearly twenty miles. till the great plains
that border the Moiave river appeared
on the north and east covered with
Towering shrubs and plants of almost
infinite variety. The nane of desert ap.
piled to this great plateau seem won.
derfully out OF place. A drive OF half a
dozen miles through giant cactus in
wild fantastic forms, and flowers of
every hue and size, led to the rugged
canon of the East Fork of the Mojave,
where the enterprising citizens of Los
Angeles have done a grand work that
seemed an impossibility before it was
accomplished.
Through the great masses Of granite a
viaduct has been cut for three and hall
miles from romantic spot in the tortu.
GUS caiion along the mountain side to q
bold headiand that overlooks the valley
OF the Moiave for distance that wearie:
tho vision. This viaduct is the boldesi
attempt yet made in Southern California
to obtain water for irrigation. Olhei
bitches are longer. broader aud deeper,
but none have been planned and carried
out with greater surrounding difficulties
than that. of the Hesperia Land ant
Water Company. After rousing th,
echoes of the canon for six months will
the explosion of 10000 pounds of gian
powder, on Wednesday, May IL, 1887
the last explosion broke the last barrier
making an open channel, spacious and
strong, through the solid rock for the
dashing waters to flow for the fertiliza
ton of 30, 900 acres oil valuable lands, in
the great plains below. The occasion wa;
hailed with joy and satisfaction by the
managers of this gigantic work. They
now have q property worth millions
solely caused by their energy and cour-
age in doing what had remained undone
for a generation and been pronounced
impossible. -.
At a distance the line of the ditch
looks like O spiders web on the side oi
the grand old mountain, but when the
locality is reached il will be found that
this seeming little line is channel four
feet wide at the bottom and five feet in
width, with a depth that can be in.
erensed from four to six feet. and n fall
that will carry more water than will be
needed for $4,000 people. Part of tn,
ditch is walled with rock and cement OF
one side. while on the other side is th,
solid rock of the mountain.
At the lower end of the mountain tn